Folks, There Are New Characters In the City
by nomsayin13
Summary: A lion finds itself in a zoo with no idea of how she got in here. She has to get out obviously but if she does, what then? Who will aid the lion, friendship-wise? I don't own any of the Sonic characters from the anime Sonic X to the Sonic games. I only own the lion and Flower. AU story. Don't forget to review.


Folks There Are New Characters In the City

One day...

A lion roused from her sleep, stretching her mouth as far as the jaw would allow, blinking the sleep-filled eyes. The lion had a chance to glance at the surroundings; it was definitely not in a jungle. Instead the lion found herself in a cave that only covered half of her frame. A little before the lion were bars of a cage and outside of the cage were people of all ages, from children to the elderly.

Balloons, popcorn, and cotton candy machines decorated the walkways, a mini car- small enough look more like a toy car rather than a regular yet big enough to carry ten or more people at a time- drove by the lion's cage. The chattering, yelling and laughing soared through the air into the lion's ears. The lion laid her head down and placed her hands over her ears. Wherever she was, it was certainly noisy here. As the lion struggled to not go crazy, an elderly man went straight up to the lion's cage, his back directly to the lion's face.

"Folks," he hollered, his cone-shaped microphone cupping his mouth. "It seems like we have a new member of the family right here in the zoo. That's right folks, we recently acquired an animal from the White Jungle." I'm in a zoo, thought the lion. Great. "It can roar," continued the man. "It likes to eat meat and lots of it and-" the man emphasized the second 'and' word dramatically- "this animal likes to sleep a lot. What animal am I describing?"

"Oh oh oh! Mememe!" an excited boy hollered.

The man pointed to him. "Yes?"

"A saber tooth tiger!" An uproar of laughter greeted the false guess.

"Not... quite son, but good try," the man said. He scanned the crowd. His finger pointed to another child, this time a girl. "Yes?"

"A lion...?" she said shyly.

"Corrreeccct!" bellowed the man, backing away from the cage revealing the grumpy lion. Applause screeched into the lion's ear drums. Why me, the lion thought unhappily. If the lion were out of that cage, she would...

"Give her some space folks. She's had a long trip from her home," the man adds glancing over at the lion. Instantly everyone backed away, but this did not make the lion feel any better. As soon as everyone left, the lion closed her eyes.

After what felt like a few minutes, the lion awoke to a clanking of two pieces of metal grinding against the pavement close to the lion's cage. The lion growled in annoyance then looked up to see who in the world could be making such a ear-deafening noise. When the lion looked up, she saw a small black fox with two tails that looked like they've been...robotized?

Confused, the lion sat up to get a better look at the girl. The fox looked about eight years old, with a white tank top, dark navy blue and pink sneakers. She also had two tails that looked it as though they've been recently robotized. The fox starred at the lion with big brown eyes. "Hello," she said shyly, waving her white gloved hand.

In response, the lion stood up on its' own hind legs, raised her left paw and roared out hello- or as close as a hello would sound. The fox's eyes widened in amazement. The lion smirked to herself. The fox smiled and chuckled. "Wow can you talk?" she whispered.

The lion nodded. The fox gasped. "You can understand me?" she said in a loud whisper.

Again the lion nodded, more enthusiastically. The fox jumped in excitement. "She can understand me, she can understand me," she repeated each time getting louder and louder. Heads turned, chatter ceased. The fox noticed and shrugged. "Um...I was just kidding?" she said. The people frowned, but when back to their business after a moment. The fox turned to the lion. "Guess I better not talk to myself that loud?" she asks the lion after a moment.

The lion nodded, then froze and looked over the fox's shoulder. The fox noticed and turned to find a gray and 'big' albatross. The albatross wore black sneakers with white and yellow stripe across them, tan gloves with large cuffs at the end of them and had small goggles on top of his head. The albatross also had mostly gray and white feathers on his body. He was also a hulking figure which would make him an intimidating if it weren't for the fact that he was looking at the small girl with concern.

"You okay li'l girl?" he asks kindly.

The fox jumped a bit since she was startled but nevertheless nodded.

"What's your name?" the albatross inquired.

"Flower," the fox replied, somewhat startled by the albatross's sudden appearance.

"Hey Flower, my name's Storm. Storm the Albatross. I see you're talking with that lion behind ya. Are you guys friends or sumthing?" Storm glanced toward the creature, who growled at him. "It doesn't seem to like me much."

"That's okay," Flower replied. "The lion can talk at least."

Storm starred at the fox for a moment. Then burst out laughing. "Hahahahahahaha!" Storm's abdomen shook with laughter. "You're-you're-you're joking right?!" Storm tried asking in between breathes. Gradually, Storm slowed himself down, inhaling deeply, then again, and then the third time. When Storm finally stopped his laughter, he discerned the look Flower gave him; the look pleaded him to listen to the fox.

"You're serious...," Storm realizes, momentarily looking over at the lion who looks bored.

"Yeah and the lion can understand you when you talk," Flower seemed intent on getting Storm to believing her. She pointed toward the cage. "Talk to her," she urged the albatross impatiently.

Storm heaved a sigh yet he could not bring himself to refuse; the way Flower looked and talked to him lit a glimmer of kindness deep within his dark heart. His heart suggested her at least tried, and a few seconds later, Storm found himself up to the lion's cage, viewing the lion's ugly hairy features. Storm could not believe he was doing this. He cleared his throat, and then he spoke: "Lion," he began. "What..." he tried to come up with a question but he could not. His mind was too focused on the embarrassment of talking to an animal, a real animal whose mind isn't adjusted to conversing with other humans. Or albatrosses for that matter.

"I'm waiting," the words slipped from the lion's irritated mouth.

Storm shook his head, then he starred at the lion in bewilderment. His mouth could form neither words or sounds. Storm practically tripped over his own feet as he scampered away, leaving the fox and lion snickering.

Once they both calmed down, Flower and the lion glanced meaningfully at each other. "I think you're pretty cool," Flower commented.

The lion mustered a meaningful smile and flashed it toward the fox. Before anyone can muster a word, a blue beam of light flew through the air, the bars of the cage. Pieces of metal hurled, people screamed, children ran, sparks flew. Through the black smoke, the lion emerged free, but there was a new concern for the two friends: who in the world fired that blast? Before Flower or the lion could move, a purple swallow, a green hawk and Storm appeared in front of them. How they did not notice the birds before the two did not know.

The swallow walked up to the lion, apparently unafraid of what the lion may do to her. Her blue eyes shimmered in arrogance.

"Don't touch her!" Flower yelled. "She does not know who you are!"

"Not yet anyway," replied the swallow, reaching into her pocket, pulling out a hand held device. The lion got into defensive position, ready for any attack. The swallow grew closer and closer, making every moment as suspenseful as the last. The green hawk eyed the swallow as though she were crazy. Storm grabbed Flower and gripped her as though in fear she would slip away, and Flower could only watch. Who knows what could happen?

Beep! Beep! Beep! Everyone jumped back a foot. The swallow, too, was startled but to regained her composure quickly and delivered a swift kick to the lion's stomach. With an oof, the lion stumbled and burped out a shiny emerald that does not look like any jewel you would find at your local jewelry store. At the moment it was hard to tell, for everything happened so quickly that only someone like Sonic would have the adequate reaction time.

The gem flew through the air, spinning once, twice, three times before the green hawk leaped into the air, the gem slammed against his hand. While in midair, the hawk squeezed the gem with his catcher's mitt hand. Storm sprang in the air, his arms far apart. "I got you boossss!" his howl was cut short as the hawk crashed into his stomach, knocking him back a good few feet back, finally skidding to a stop at the exit of the zoo. The swallow threw her arms in the air. "Honestly you two!" she screamed. "Can't you actually do something right for one measly day! I swear, nothing ever gets done around here!"

"Well Wave," the green hawk retorted. "Maybe if you stopped nagging us and started helping us, maybe we would've done something for a change!"

"Yeah," Storm joined in. "What the boss said!"

"Stop interrupting!" Wave bellowed, walking briskly toward her comrades. She gritted her teeth. "Knock it off!"

Flower took this as her cue to leave, so with the help of her two tails, she flew away, the bickering fading away with every passing minute. Pretty soon, the zoo became a mere speck in the distance. Flower then noticed that the sun was setting; she had to get home soon. Off she went but as soon as she set foot on the welcome home mat in front of the mansion she is living in, she remembered something: she forgot the lion. She abandoned the lion with the bickering jerk birds. Heh heh "jerk birds."

Flower dipped her head in shame but stopped short as she heard an unfamiliar voice of a female, chatting with everyone in the house. Feeling weary from today's events, Flower rapped softly on the door. Mr. Tanaka, the mansion's butler, opened the gigantic door. "Please come in Miss Flower," he simply said, opening the door wider for her to come in. Flower slowly entered to find a dark purple hedgehog she's never seen before laughing, talking with Sonic. The hedgehog smiled similarly to the lion from the zoo. Flower stopped short in her tracks and could only wonder if she were in a dream or not.


End file.
